Rangers top man out of touch with footballing reality

New Rangers chief executive Charles Green has revealed his complete detachment from the realities of football after stating his club will compete in a European league by the end of the decade.

Green, who led a successful re-launch of the Glasgow club late this summer, told BBC Sport fans just aren’t interested in domestic football any more.

“There will be a European league because big teams can’t keep subsidising small teams for the next 10 years because they will go stale,” said Green. “Arsenal don’t want to play Southampton or Swansea, but ask them if they want to play Celtic or Rangers. It’s what the fans want to see.

“Fans across the world want to see Manchester United play Barcelona, not just once every few years but every season.”

Arsenal fans might want to watch their side play Barcelona (favourites for the Champions League in the bet365 latest football odds) instead of lowly Premier League teams, but Green’s idea of creating a European league would ruin the spectacle and importance of such an event for supporters and football betting fans alike.

One of the reasons why huge clashes between Manchester United, Barcelona and the like are so exciting is that they do only come around every few seasons. The years of waiting and build-up for a chance to avenge a foreign foe is what makes the Champions League such an attractive spectacle: it is a venture into the unknown.

Ask American football fans if they want the Superbowl every fortnight, or if Baseball fans would welcome 25 World Series in a year. Green’s idea would ruin the aspect of watching football and create a league of soul-deserting Harlem Globetrotters.

Fans do want to see Celtic and Rangers but only when it matters – imagine a Rangers v Chelsea clash at the bottom of the ‘European Super League’ without relegation to fend off. How boring.

No, domestic league systems must stay as they are to maintain the interest in football. Diluting the importance of European battles would ruin the spectacle that makes them so attractive and rip the heart out of the sport.